Norway Part 2: The Lofoten Islands

Our adventures in Norway were just getting started as we cruised into the Narvik airport for part two.  Julie wasted no time on the adventure front either.  She slipped and fell down after her first step out of the airplane onto a very wet, slippery metal staircase which leads down to the runway.  Thankfully she was ok!  But this just added to the stress of knowing we had a mad dash across the Archipelago ahead of us.  We had exactly 4 hours to reach our little Rorbu (fishing cabin) before the very last stretch of road would close down for construction and leave us stranded on the wrong island until 3 a.m.  Thankfully our car had 6 gears. 

Starting off with iPhone pics… I promise they get better

It soon became clear why we spent part of our “vacation” driving 400 miles, flying across the country, falling out of airplanes onto metal stairs, and crossing many bridges in a single day (which is a big deal when your wife has a phobia of bridges).  These islands felt like magic.  After a long ride on windy roads we made it to our construction zone just before the road closures.  After a half hour delay we were allowed to pass and we witnessed what building roads at the end of the world looks like.  At this point Julie, who was swearing to never drive over a bridge again, was wondering if we had made a bad decision (I guess I had my secret doubts as well).  It was dark, rainy and the roads no longer seemed safe.  But once we passed through this treacherous zone it felt like we entered into a fairy tale-like world. 

Taken by Julie through the car window

Hard to tell but this was on the edge of a sheer drop down to the water

Rein is one of several old fishing villages that historically housed up to 20,000 fishermen during the fishing season in wooden cabins, called Rorbu.  Our little Rorbu was absolutely adorable and equipped with two bedrooms, a kitchen, one bathroom, and even a secret little attic loft.  [End HGTV narrative summary.] 

We would definitely recommend Reine Rorbuer!

Left: View from our window at 11pm at night; Right: View from our deck

We stocked up on groceries the next day, had a hearty breakfast, and set out for our first full day of adventure in Lofoten.  Naturally we managed time for a photograph here and there as well. 

Only a few miles from Reine is the end of the road at the town of Å (the last letter in Norwegian alphabet – no idea how to pronounce it).  Here we stopped and spent the afternoon exploring and hiking.  This has to be one of the coolest spots in the world to sleep in a tent (or a Rorbu for that matter). 

I cooked up some hearty jambalaya for dinner with my Norwegian ingredients and we enjoyed our very long, slow sundown where the light lingered until almost midnight. 

I picked up some cinnamon rolls for breakfast on our second full day.   Naturally, it did not take Julie long the day before to find what is probably the only fresh bakery on the entire set of islands.  This day we backtracked on our initial drive so we could go back and enjoy some of the scenery we had flown past in the dark. 

I want to mention there were also plenty of tunnels in this part of Norway too

We visited Nusfjord, saw some awesome beaches, had a hike along the coast and managed to use those three cameras we had been lugging around with us.  The Norwegian Sea is surprisingly not too terribly cold and we saw a few people swimming (well I think those backpackers were technically bathing).  But since the air temperature was only in the 50s I decided it would be best to stay dry (or as dry as possible with the random waves of rain that would come).  

Nusfjord

Skagsanden Beach

Ramberg Beach

Kubbholmsundet

The questioning faces of the sheep when we were on the wrong path (except for that last sheep - he isn't as smart as the others)

Our Ytresand hike

And because these islands feel so magical all the time it was no surprise that we had a magnificent rainbow to greet us on our drive back to Rein for the evening. 

Then after another home cooked dinner in our Rorbu, the sun poked through the clouds and smiled at us.  No really, this lighting was better than what photographers can dream of.  Therefore, I proudly present the best photographs from our entire photography adventure: 

We ventured out for a nice 4-hour hike on our third full day.  We started with some very vague internet instructions for a lakeside hike back in the town of Å and ended up following the streams and waterfalls deep into the valley for an unexpected adventure.  It seems on these islands there is a continuous network of magical lakes which are terraced along the mountainside.  Over every hill is a new lake with cascading waterfalls in between.  Eventually our food and water supply was getting low, so we went back into town for some lunch. 

On the drive to the hike

Hiking around a different part of Å

It’s unfortunate that restaurants are so expensive in Norway, because we did not get to try much local cuisine on our quest to save even a bit of money.  However on this particular day we splurged on an awesome fish burger/sandwich at a popular fish market.  It was absolutely delicious!  Easily the best meal we had over our entire stay – even despite the dried fish heads staring us down at every turn. 

From left to right: dead fish, fish heads, fish heads

Delicious fish sandwich

We spent the afternoon and evening enjoying our cabin lifestyle.  And Julie spent some time continuing the process of narrowing down our several thousand photos into a reasonable amount, just so we could deliver these blogs to you in a decent amount of time. 

We also found Julie's name on a Coke bottle too in Lofoten! (or not)

We said goodbye to our Rorbu the next day and slowly made the drive back across the archipelago toward the airport (we were spending our last night closer to the airport so we could avoid repeating that mad dash across the islands again).  Since we had all day to make our way back, we stopped at two of Lofoten’s highest rated beaches.  Both definitely lived up to their hype.  We also had some more fun with our filters making the ocean look even prettier than it already is. 

Haukland Beach

We had a little otter friend chowing down on some fish

Utakleiv Beach

All the pullouts we had marked on the beautiful drive coming in were no longer as fantastic as we had remembered.  It seems 3 days at the end of the Lofotens had spoiled us and diminished our sense for beauty, or what was beautiful enough to merit a car stop.  The entire island group is incredible, but we found the land at the end of the road was definitely the best. 

Ok - this part of the drive was worth the stop

Later that day we stopped off at an ice sculpture display, called Magic Ice.  Although this place has a lot of potential, the almost $30 entrance fee to walk through a frozen, poorly lit room made the whole experience entertaining in a different way than they intended.  I could not convince Julie to go for a second 5-minute ice stroll around the giant room just so we could get our money’s worth.  Julie likes to blame this terrible idea on me, but she also fell for their very clever little marketing and cozy looking parkas. 

Afterwards we continued our drive and settled into and our cheap little hotel for the night.  We enjoyed (reluctantly accepted it as the cheapest option) another convenience store hot dog meal for dinner.

Before flying home the next day we had a few hours to explore the area around Harstad.  Another set of vague internet instructions for a viewpoint hike falsely led us to a dirt road and the very end of a fjord.  Here we found the remains of an old military bunker and explored the dark caves and ruins at hand.  I eventually got scared, so we left. 

Driving in Harstad

The beach at the end of the fjord

Elgsnes kystfort (a coastal fort)

And so our Norway adventures came to an end with an overwhelming amount of photos to show for it (thousands and thousands taken whittled down to the top 808 to keep).  The Lofoten Islands are a photographer’s paradise and we spent every moment enjoying our time there.  And as Julie will readily admit: all of those awful bridges were worth it.  And knowing her, I know that means this trip was really a once in a lifetime experience. 

Bye Lofoten!